April 2012: Lucky Year 13

April 2012: Lucky Year 13

It's hard to believe we're thirteen years old this month. Harder still to believe we don't count our age in truckloads of coffee consumed. So, depending on how you count, we're either just entering the awkward teenage years, or are a centenarian. It usually feels like both. There's plenty seeing us into adolescence.

I Love Architecture is picking up steam - fueled in part by a @DanielLibeskind tweet of the sketch he sent us. His and others will be auctioned this June.

Registration for [Un]Restricted Access closes May 1 (an extended deadline). The Venice Biennale will be featuring the finalists - see below.

Also this Fall: Design Like You Give a Damn: LIVE! Visit San Francisco this November and engage your fellow humanitarians in social design through panel discussions, Design Open Mic, workshops and more. Save the date!

Speaking of giving a damn, some of the HQ folks got lovely deliveries last week - Design Like You Give a Damn [2] has been released! Everyone who's ordered in advance should be getting their copies soon. Place an order at Amazon if you haven't yet, and send an extra copy to your boss. We're sure they'll thank you.

NIKE GamechangersWho says size matters? Construction season is on again for Gamechangers. Micro-grant recipients are nearing completion of two small sports facilities in rural India and China. In Jharkhand, India, Yuwa is using football to promote health, education and improved livelihoods among the hardest to reach, most at-risk group in the community - girls.

In China, villagers from Gan Hai Zi are working with Habitat for Humanity to construct an outdoor sport and community center – a new hub to socialize, entertain, recreate and build up those endorphins we all know and love.

Remember the design-build team from San Pedro Apóstol? They, with Architect Juan Santibañez, and the women of San Juan Mixtepec, have completed the first of 20 homes built with indigenous and local materials. Nice!

Peru: Happy Hearts Design fellow Diego Collazos just got back from the Structures for Inclusion conference in Austin, Texas, where he presented his work in Latin America, rebuilding disaster-stricken schools for Happy Hearts & SURA. Not that he'd have much of a break following the conference, as the next series of school projects begin rolling into construction. Get the latest from our award-winning Design Fellow.

Haiti: Rebuilding Center Design Fellow Olivia Stinson has been coordinating trips out to remote and exotic ends of Haiti for the past six months. Her teams, Haitians with GPSs and laptops are producing what these places have never had before: maps. With a grant from the WK Kellogg Foundation, Architecture for Humanity is mapping eleven communes across southern and central Haiti: Cavaillon, Maniche, Mirebalais, Saut d'Eau, Boucan Carre, Lachapelle, Arcahaie, Aquin, St Louis du Sud, Cayes, and Ile a Vache.

2012 US Tornadoes Recovery Over 100 tornadoes touched down last weekend as part of a massive storm system passing through the Midwest. Architecture for Humanity is reaching out to local chapters for a follow up to assess needed design services. And at the end of March, Architecture for Humanityrepresentativesand the AIA met with officials of the City of Harrisburg, Illinois, the site of tremendous tornado damage on February 29. The discussion assessed the needs of the town, as immediate relief winds down, clean up continues and discussions of the long-term needs and prospects of the community begin. Track the latest.

Africa: Football for Hope We are pleased to announce the opening of the sixth Football for Hope Center in Oguaa, Ghana.The center was officially inaugurated in Cape Coast on March 24, and the ceremony was a great success among the local representatives and the whole community. Over 200 children attended the ceremony and participated in the activities proud of their beautiful new T-shirts.

The Architecture Biennale in Venice recently granted the design competition [UN]RESTRICTED ACCESS exhibition space for its awarded finalists. The Biennale runs from August 29th to November 25th, 2012, and will serve as the first stop of an international tour of the competition's top, innovative concepts and accompanying photo exhibit. As the registration period draws to a close on May 1st(extended deadline!!), collaborators reflect on what has already become a profound international conversation.

Itself a biannual tradition, the Open Architecture Challenge has collected with its incoming registrant teams stories of people drawn irresistibly to the mission of [UN]RESTRICTED ACCESS. These voices hail from all across the world - resonant with hope, admiration, and reverence for the prospect of redeveloping ex-military bases. The Challenge already represents 60 nations, over 330 teams finding meaning in healing after a military withdrawal. We're wondering if it's not the 2012 Revit Suite prizes that are driving numbers up...

CHAPTER UPDATES

Just a few more weeks for the opportunity to submit your chapter's disaster plan proposal before the May 14 deadline. In partnership with the AIA, this grant program is seeking the engagement of the architecture community in preparing and responding to a disaster event.

The Los Angeles chapter is kicking off a new project, the Lamas Cultural Center. If you are interested in getting involved with the design team or provide fund raising assistance, please contact the chapter.

Our Santa Barbara chapter is gearing up for its first event celebrating Earth Day. The weekend long event will take place on May 21-22. Should you be in the area, come and support the initiatives of this new chapter.

Last but not least, we recently issued our Chapters newsletter for Spring 2012. The newsletter highlights resources and in-depth stories about specific chapter issues and projects. It's chocker-block full.

A grand welcome to the team (and huge thank you already!) toBay Area-based Film Editor VolunteerBeverly Pitzer,Model Maker VolunteersMa Jie andMuneeba Sutton, and Santiago, Chile-based Enel Coure VolunteerMali Valenzuela. We appreciate what you do immensely.

And farewell toJe'Nen Chastain from Oakland, CA and Miriam Fernandez Ruiz from Spain, who each volunteered for three months and Zsofia Marton from Hungary, who dedicated the past year to volunteer at HQ. We wish them well as they return home and move on to their next big endeavors. And if you're interested in volunteering, contact us!

Special thanks to Mortar Net for donating funds as part of its participation in the AIA 2012 National Convention next month in Washington, D.C. Between now and May 19, the company will donate $30for every person who registers at the company’s websiteor at the Mortar Net AIA Convention booth #1701.

Visit Architecture for Humanity at the AIA Convention's exhibition floor and meet some of our staff and local chapter members. You'll also be able to purchase an I Love Architecture t-shirt. We will be at Booth #363, across from the AIA Town Hall.

Dwell on DesignWhen: June 22-24, 2012 | Where: Los Angeles Convention Center, Los Angeles Architecture for Humanity will be on the tradeshow floor, selling some good ol' architecture love...and shirts. Come visit us and tell us why YOU love architecture and grab your t-shirt. Additionally, Cameron Sinclair and Design Like You Give a Damn [2] book contributors will be taking the stage!

Design Like You Give a Damn: LIVE! 2012When: November 12-13, 2012 | Where: Autodesk Gallery, 1 Market Street #200 San Francisco, CA 94105 --> We're gearing up for our 3rd Annual humanitarian design forum and it's taking place in San Francisco this year right before Greenbuild. More details to come but Save the Date and start plotting your Design Open Mic submission for 7 minutes of fame. Interested in sponsoring? Contact us!